Thomas Reid was born in Ballyroney, County Down, and was educated for the Presbyterian ministry. He ran away to sea and settled in America in 1840. He worked as a storekeeper, actor, schoolteacher, slave overseer, hunter, and as a soldier in the Indian wars. In 1842 he began work with the Pittsburgh Morning Chronicle. He then moved to Philadelphia where he met Edgar Alan Poe, began publishing poems and had a play produced in the Walnut Street Theatre.

He volunteered for the Mexican war (1846-8), where he distinguished himself, having been left for dead on the battlefield. He produced his first novel while recovering from this ordeal and when he returned to England he wrote adventure novels for the next thirty years, among which are Scalp Hunters; Rifle Rangers (1850); Boy Hunter; Headless Horseman and The Castaways. Altogether he published seventy novels, and was translated into ten languages. He returned to America and founded and edited the Onward Magazine.

He died in London. 

Born:	4 April 1818
Died:	22 October 1883